Leeds mum seriously injured in crash caused by speeding driver rushing home to walk his dog

A mum suffered serious pelvic injuries in a crash caused by a speeding driver rushing home to walk his dog.
Leeds Crown Court.Leeds Crown Court.
Leeds Crown Court.

Morgan Machin was jailed for 16 months after a court heard he drove at almost triple the 30mph speed limit shortly before the crash on Wetherby Road.

The dashcam in the 21-year-old's car revealed how he carried out dangerous manoeuvres at high speed shortly before ploughing into the victim's vehicle.

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Mark Brookes, prosecuting, said Machin went into the opposite carriageway to overtake a line of traffic and struck the victim's car as she turned right into Sykes Lane, Scarcroft.

The woman suffered fractures to her pelvis and was unable to walk for months after the incident on June 14 last year.

Other injuries included a fractured sternum and a fractured nose.

Machin was arrested at the scene and admitted to officers that he had been speeding.

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Experts estimated that he had been travelling at 82mph shortly before the crash and at 68mph at the time of the impact

Machin later told a probation officer that he had been rushing home as he wanted to take his dog for a walk before it got dark.

Machin, of Beechwood House, Scarcroft, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

A victim impact statement was read out to the court in which she described how the incident had also affected her psychologically.

She said: "Fortunately I did not have a passenger.

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"Had my son been with me that day he would have been killed."

Phillip Morris, mitigating, said Machin was of previous good character and was sorry for what he had done.

Mr Morris said: "It was 9.40pm. There was 15 minutes of light and he had a new dog sat in the passenger side of the car.

"That is the only realistic reason for rushing. It might sound innocuous and terribly bland for something that was so serious."

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Judge Penelope Belcher replied: "It absolutely does, because a dog can be walked in the dark."

The Judge said the offending was too serious to impose anything other than an immediate prison sentence.

The judge told Machin: "This was not a momentary lapse of judgement or a mistake.

"This was deliberate, sustained and prolonged speeding over a number of miles."